


Artemis Claus

by sunkelles



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, F/F, Secret Santa, Snaibsel, pre femslash, zatannamis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-17 15:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13080201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: Artemis doesn't celebrate Christmas, but Zatanna does. Artemis isn't about to let Zatanna's first Christmas without her dad pass without something fun to look forward to.





	Artemis Claus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [titaniumsansa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/titaniumsansa/gifts).



> merry christmas to my best friend! i hope that you like this :)
> 
> a few notes  
> 1\. i call m'gann "megan" in the narration for this because as far as artemis knows at this point, that's what m'gann wants to be called. the rest of the team call her megan too  
> 2\. artemis bringing pho was inspired by this cute video http://disregardcanon.tumblr.com/post/168682199068/themochagoddess-jamesyouth

Artemis doesn't celebrate Christmas. After her mom kicked her dad out, the tradition just kind of died. Neither she nor her mom are Christian, and they're not fans of the holiday, so keeping it up just seemed silly. Zatanna Zatara, however, _does_ celebrate Christmas. Before her dad became Doctor Fate, Zatanna told Artemis all about how excited she was for Christmas to come so that she could spend the day with her dad doing all their Christmas traditions. But now Giovanni Zatara is Doctor Fate and Zatanna has no one to celebrate her favorite holiday with. 

Artemis is not going to let that happen. One day when the team's just hanging around the cave, she suggests that they do a Secret Santa. 

“What’s Secret Santa?” Megan asks.

"It's where you choose someone to get gifts for anonymously,” Artemis says, “and then they have to guess who had you.”

“Wait,” Megan says, “you choose? Does that mean we could all accidentally decide to do Robin and then no one but Robin and Wally gets presents?” Robin laughs.

“I like the sound of that,” Robin says with an evil grin.

“No,” Artemis says, “everyone writes their name on a sheet of paper and then you like, draw it out of a hat or something. That can’t happen.” Megan smiles.

“Oh! That sounds way better!”

“I do not celebrate Christmas,” Kaldur says, “but that sounds like fun.”

“We have to do it!” Megan says, her face lighting up like the lights on the tree, “that sounds like such fun!”

“I’m down,” Wally says.

“I dunno,” Robin says, “I liked the version where I got all the gifts a lot better.”

“We can just leave you out,” Artemis says, “then you get _no_ gifts.”

“One gift it is,” Robin says.

“I’ll do it too,” Zatanna says.

“Conner?” Megan asks.

“Fine,” Conner says, “I guess I will.” In a flash, Wally has disappeared. He comes back with a pad of paper, a pen, and a Santa hat.

“Let’s just draw right now,” he says. He writes his name on a sheet of paper, and shoves it in the Santa hat. Then he passes it to Robin. The supplies make their way around the circle, and then they each grab a name. Artemis gets Megan. She was hoping for Zatanna so that she could give her the best present ever, but Megan works well too. She has some ideas about what to do get for Megan.

 

 

They agree to all come to the Cave the evening of December 23rd for Secret Santa and to bring food for a potluck.

“I bought a bag of chips at the store,” Conner says.

“I brought some Coke and some cups,” Wally says, holding up a two liter bottle of Coke and a package of red Solo cups.

“I made cookies!” Megan announces proudly. The kitchen still has the delicious smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

“I’m sorry,” Kaldur says as he holds up a pot and looks sadly at it, “I’m afraid I misunderstood what we were doing.”

“It’s cool, Kaldur,” Robin tells him, “we’ll put SB’s chips in your pot.” Robin sets his crockpot on the counter beside Megan’s cookies. Then, he opens the lid.

“I brought blinis,” Robin says. Artemis isn’t sure what those are, but they smell delicious. Artemis sets her own pot on the other ends.

“My mom helped me make pho,” Artemis says.

“Nice,” Wally says, “someone brought actual food.”

“You’re one to talk. You bought a bottle of Coke and some cups and called it good,” Robin says, “I made this desert with my own two hands.”

“Hm, really? Do you mean _Alfred’s_ two hands?” Wally says.

“He only helped a little, okay?” Robin says defensively.

“Eh, I’m not judging,” Wally says. Then, Zatanna walks in, holding a pan in her oven mitts. She sets the pan down on the cooling rack beside Artemis’s pan of pho.

“Wait,” Zatanna says, “did someone else bring real food?”

“Artemis brought pho,” Robin says,

“Nice! I made lasagna because I thought it would be the only real food here,” Zatanna says, “now we have variety.” She looks super excited.

“I’m actually so tired of lasagna," Zatanna admits, "I’m gonna eat _all_ your pho, Artemis.” Artemis grins at that. Zatanna looks over the table.

“I see the cups," Zatanna says, "Who brought the plates?” There’s no response.

“The forks?” No response.

“The spoons?” No response.

"The _bowls_?" 

“I brought the cups.” Wally says.

“That doesn’t help,” Zatanna says.

“I guess we’re using all the real dishes,” Megan says sadly. They all head into the kitchen to get their supplies. Then, they eat all of their mismatched food and talk and crack jokes before anyone even remembers that they have presents too.

“So,” Wally says, “about those presents?” The presents are under the Christmas tree in the living room, so they all move from the kitchen to the living room. Everyone sits down, and Artemis rolls her eyes.

“You know,” Artemis says, “someone’s got to pass out the presents.”

“I don’t wanna get up,” Robin groans.

“Fine,” Artemis says, “I’ll do it.” She picks up the bags and wrapped presents and passes them out until she comes to one that doesn’t say who it’s for.

“This one doesn’t have a label,” Artemis says.

“Oh,” Megan says, “that’s mine. For Kaldur.” Then she looks embarrassed.

“I wasn’t supposed to say that, was I?”

“It is alright,” Kaldur says, “I am terrible at guessing. It is easier to just know it was from you.” Megan smiles.

“Thanks, Kaldur,” she says. Artemis passes the last present to Kaldur.

“How about you start, since you already know who it’s from,” Artemis suggests. Kaldur gently removes the tissue paper from his package. He takes out a black Letterman jacket with yellow embroidery.

“This is lovely,” he says, “what is it?”

“It’s a Happy Harbor jacket!” Megan says, “that way, if you ever want to hang out with us when we hang out with our Happy Harbor friends, you can wear that and they won’t question why they haven’t seen you around school. You’ll fit right in!” Kaldur smiles.

“Thank you, Megan,” he says. Then he slides the jacket right on. He looks really good in it. Megan is sitting right beside him, and she rips the wrapping paper off of her gift next.

“It’s a DVD!” Megan says. She looks over the disk more carefully.

“Kim Possible,” she says, “that sounds really cool!”

“So,” Robin says, “who do you think gave you that?”

“Zatanna?” Megan asks.

“Nope,” Zatanna says, “not me.”

“Robin?”

“Not me either,” Robin says. Megan smiles then.

“Artemis, was it you?” she asks. Then Artemis smiles.

“You got me,” Artemis says.

“Thank you,” Megan says, “this looks really cool.”

“I was hoping that we could watch it together sometime,” Artemis says, “I haven’t seen that in forever.” Megan smiles even wider.

“That sounds perfect! We should do that after Christmas,” Megan says.

“Alright,” Robin says, who’s sitting on the other side of Megan, “my turn now.” He rips the snowflake wrapping paper off of the package, revealing a cardboard box.

“Ooo,” he says, “a box! Just what I’ve always wanted.” Then he pulls a knife out of his pocket and cuts through the tape sealing the box. He picks up the present, an individual tabloid with Bruce Wayne’s face on the front. _Gotham’s heart throb back on the market_ the headline reads. Robin’s face is beat red, and he’s glaring at the magazine.

“Wally,” he growls. Wally is already laughing his ass off.

“Oh Rob,” he says between laughs, “you should- you should see your face.” Robin drops the magazine back into the box.

“Screw you,” he says. Megan looks confused.

“I don’t get the joke,” Megan says, turning to Zatanna.

“I don’t think anyone does but those two,” Zatanna says. If the punchline is “Robin is gay” like Artemis thinks that it is, her bi ass is pissed about it. 

“Alright,” Zatanna says, “I’m going now.” She rips the deep green tissue paper out of her bag. Then she pulls out a giant, Hershey’s chocolate bar and a copy of _The Sorcerer’s Stone._ She smiles.

“This is so nice,” she says, “was it Artemis?”

“No,” Megan says, “Artemis was mine.”

“Kaldur?” Kaldur shakes his head.

“Robin?”

“It was me,” Conner says. Zatanna smiles.

“Thank you so much!” Zatanna says, “this is perfect.” Artemis knows that Zatanna already owns all the Harry Potter books, but it’s really sweet that Conner knew her well enough to get her one, even though she already had it.

“My turn!” Wally says, grabbing his own gift bag. He rips off the paper, and then grabs the book. It’s very old looking, bound in leather and weathered.

“What is that?” Zatanna asks.

“A book,” Wally says.

“Do you even know how to read?” Artemis asks, snickering. Wally opens up the cover.

“I resent that statement,” he says. He’s reading through the first few pages.

“This is so awesome,” Wally says, “it’s a book of Atlantean scientific knowledge. Thank you, Kaldur.” Kaldur smiles.

“I know how much you like science. I thought that bringing our learning to you and the surface world would make a good present.” Conner doesn’t skip a beat before he rips the bright green bow off of his package and then rips off the red paper.

“Do you need my knife?” Robin asks. Conner just rips through the tape because he has super strength.

“Apparently not,” Robin says. Connor pulls out a Batman shirt and a container of freshly baked brownies.

“Robin,” he says, “I don’t know if I want to thank you or punch you.” Robin smiles.

“I have that effect on people.” Artemis clutches her own tiny gift.

“Thanks in advance, Zee,” Artemis says. Zatanna sends her a smile.

“Hope you like it,” Zatanna says. Artemis takes a second to look a little closer at the package, something that none of the rest of them have done tonight. The wrapping paper is a soft silver, and there’s a tiny blue bow at the top. Then, Artemis gently rips off the paper. The box looks even tinier when she looks at it without the paper. She takes the lid off, and then, on a bed of soft cotton she sees a little necklace sitting. It’s a gold colored chain with a gold colored arrow charm. The smooth, metallic lines almost sparkle in the fluorescent light.

“Thank you,” Artemis says, “this is amazing.”

“What is it?” Robin asks, “we can’t see.” Artemis takes the necklace out of the box and holds it up.

“That’s beautiful, Artemis,” Megan says. Artemis undoes the clamp, and then wraps it around her neck and puts it on.

“I’m glad you like it,” Zatanna says, smiling.

“Zee, I’m never taking this off,” Artemis says, and she’s not sure that she’s exaggerating.

“So,” Wally says, “there’s no more presents. What do we wanna do now?”

“How about we put a Christmas movie on,” Megan suggests, “I’ve only seen a few and it seems like a tradition.”

“Sounds good to me,” Robin says.

“Put on _Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer_ ,” Artemis says. Watching that stupid special was the only thing that she and Jade did together every Christmas before her sister ran away. She thinks the rest of the team will enjoy it.

“Do you mean the song?” Robin asks.

“No, the special,” Artemis says.

“There’s a whole special? Dude, we _have_ to watch this,” Robin says. The decision is reached quickly enough, and they get the terrible Christmas special on the TV within a few minutes.

“I’m gonna go grab some cookies, anybody want one?” Artemis asks.

“Please!” Robin says.

“Yes please!” Megan says.

“I’ll take five,” Wally says.

“You get one,” Artemis says, standing up and pointing an accusing finger at him. She opens the cabinet, and grabs a plate. Then, she sees Zatanna.

“Hey Zee,” Artemis says, leaning against the cabinet.

“Thanks for suggesting this,” Zatanna says.

“I didn’t put it all on alone,” Artemis says. Even though it was her idea, she doesn’t feel like she deserves much credit for that.

“No, but you suggested it for me,” Zatanna says. Artemis raises an eyebrow.

“I did?” she asks. And yes, she did.

“You don’t celebrate Christmas anymore. You told me that months ago. I didn’t really think you were longing for a Secret Santa exchange.”

“That doesn’t mean that I did it for you,” Artemis says simply.

“It does when you knew how important Christmas was for me and my dad. And wanted me to have something to look forward to my first Christmas without him.”

“You caught me,” Artemis says, “I did. Best person on earth right here.” Zatanna rolls her eyes.

“You don’t have to be sarcastic. That was really nice. I appreciated it,” Zatanna says. Artemis isn’t great at being earnest, especially not with her new friends. She gives it a try.

“I appreciated your gift. It was pretty perfect,” Artemis says.

“Are you really never taking it off?” Zatanna asks.

“Well, maybe to sleep and for missions,” Artemis says, “but other than that? Probably not.”

“Are you gonna go get those cookies?” Zatanna asks.

“Oh,” Artemis says, looking at the plate she’s laid on the counter, “I kind of forgot. I don’t really want to go back out there.”

“But you suggested the special,” Zatanna says.

“A _shitty_ special,” Artemis points out. She might love it, but _Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer_ is one of the best Zatanna laughs.

“True,” Zatanna says. Then she comes up beside Artemis and leans against the counter with her. She’s leaning a little against Artemis’s side too. It’s comfortable, casual, and far more familiar than Artemis expected from her. That doesn’t mean that Artemis doesn’t enjoy it, though.

Then, Artemis bops the pom-pom on Zatanna’s Santa hat.

“Merry Christmas, Zee,” she says. Zatanna smiles at her.

“Thanks for making it one, Artemis." 


End file.
